Saturation Diving Chemicals and Gas Conditioning Products for Subsea Saturation Diving

Diving Bell
At Premier Chemicals, we provide the saturation diving chemicals needed to ensure safe operation of Dive Support Vessels (DSV’s).

DSV’s are operated by subsea contractors to provide commercial diving services in the construction of oil and gas subsea projects. In order to support these diving activities, the DSV’s require an on board saturation diving system. These systems can be integrated on board the DSV, or modular saturation diving systems which are portable can be installed on deck for specific projects and transferred to other vessels when required.

Saturation diving systems enable groups of commercial divers to be housed on board the vessel in a controlled atmosphere which is pressurised to the depth of the subsea work which is taking place, eliminating the requirement for divers to go through decompression between shifts. Depending on the size of the ‘Sat System’, up to 24 divers can be on board at any time at a maintained working pressure for many weeks.

In order to maintain the pressure, the saturation diving system is enclosed, which means that the atmosphere within the system is continually re-circulated. This means that the breathable atmosphere requires continuous ‘conditioning’ in order to maintain a safe environment where divers can live and work.

Premier Chemicals supplies the complete range of gas conditioning chemicals required to maintain a safe working environment within saturation diving systems.

Saturation Diving Gas Conditioning Products

Premier Chemicals are suppliers of different types of gas conditioning products including:

  • Intersorb® and Spherasorb®. Soda lime is a CO₂ absorbent which safely removes carbon dioxide from breathable gas streams. The calcium hydroxide reacts with the CO₂ to form calcium carbonate, which is then held inside the absorbent bed.
  • Purafil® Select Media – spherical, porous pellets formed from a combination of activated alumina and other binders, suitably impregnated with potassium permanganate, to provide optimum absorption and oxidation of a wide variety of gaseous contaminants. Purafil® Select Media removes sulphur oxides and other odorous pollutants which can build up over time in enclosed atmospheres.
  • Activated Carbon – a steam activated extruded carbon with a particle diameter of 3 mm. This carbon offers favourable absorption properties for removal of volatile organic compounds at moderate concentrations.
  • 13X Molecular Sieve – molecular sieves are crystalline metal aluminosilicates which have a three dimensional interconnecting network of silica and alumina tetrahedra with uniform cavities, which selectively absorb molecules of specific sizes. A 13X molecular sieve has pore openings of approximately 10 Angstroms. With a high capacity for water and carbon dioxide, a molecular sieve, Grade 13X (10A) is widely used for air purification in various applications including saturation diving.

Contact us today for expert advice about your requirements.